Feel Better, Rafael
by Bucken-Berry
Summary: In which Rafael gets the flu and George takes care of him.


A/N: I'd had an idea for this fluffy fic a while and once I heard about tonight's ep, I had to write it! For a while I was worried I wouldn't finish in time but I managed! Who else is ecstatic George and Rafael are finally meeting in an ep? I've been waiting for this for a year!

Reviews are most appreciated!

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The worst part of fevers, Rafael decided as he shifted on the sofa in his office, was the way his head always got too hot for a pillow. Or, in this case, the armrest of the sofa that he was using as a replacement pillow. He rubbed his head against it, trying to find a cool spot, but his hot skin had already warmed up the rest of the sofa.

Utterly miserable, he burrowed under his overcoat and coughed. He hardly ever got sick- once every two years at most- and when he did, it was almost never enough to affect his work. But this week, a bug his coworkers had nicknamed "the flu and black plague's lovechild" had been spreading like wildfire.

The shaking chills got more intense, and he was shivering hard enough to make his teeth chatter. He curled up under his coat, but it wasn't enough, and he was too exhausted and his muscles ached too badly to even imagine getting off the sofa- let alone driving home or even taking the subway.

He coughed again and closed his eyes, hoping sleep would help take the edge off.

Some time later, he awoke to soft voices getting closer to him.

"Well, that explains it. He looks like hell."

"No kidding. I can't remember the last time a flu hit this hard. Everyone's been dropping like flies."

Nick and Olivia, he thought with a faint inward smile. Part of him wanted to ask them to leave so he could sleep more, but he stayed quiet, not letting them know he was awake.

He felt the back of a rough hand on his forehead and heard Nick say, with a hint of worry, "He's burning up, Liv."

Olivia's hand replaced Nick's. "You're right. Call Huang- he should still be close by."

This finally got Rafael to open his eyes. He watched Nick leaving the room while Olivia softly said, "Hey."

"Hey," Rafael rasped and then began to cough. "What's going on?"

"You missed court and didn't answer your phone. The judge declared a recess and then they got Jameson to take over for today," Olivia told him. "So we came to check on you."

Rafael didn't reply to her words, just nodded against her hand. He had never cared this little about missing court. It was a strange feeling.

Olivia seemed to know what he was thinking, because she smiled sympathetically and said, "You must feel awful, huh?"

"Yeah," he said. Only when he shivered again did he realize it had stopped for a short time while he slept. If he was as warm as Nick said, his fever rising more was worrisome.

He debated whether to sleep more and finally decided to try to stay awake, since it seemed like George would be coming to check on him. He didn't want to worry his kindly doctor, though he figured if George knew he was thinking that, it would probably worry him anyway. He smiled softly, leaning against Olivia's hand, and decided that he'd save his thoughts for himself.

Minutes later, Nick returned to the room, and George entered behind him. He hurried to Rafael's side, trying to appear "business as usual" but unable to hide his concern. Rafael looked up at him, coughed, and murmured, "Hola, medicito."

"Hey, Rafael," George said, voice soft but with a nervous edge that Rafael picked up on immediately. "You alright?"

Now it was George's hand resting on his forehead, which made him grin and almost laugh for reasons he couldn't figure out himself. George smiled at him slightly and then pulled out a napkin from his pocket to wipe some of the sweat from Rafael's face and neck. George watched him shivering and sweating for a moment.

"You alright?" George repeated.

Rafael nodded, but shivered harder and felt exhaustion overcome him again. He wanted to go back to sleep, right here, even without a pillow and blanket. It was comfortable enough for him and with the way he was aching- muscles, joints, bones, all of it- it was unbearable just to think about walking to the car.

George reached into a grocery bag he'd brought with him and said, "I have some Tylenol here, but I'd like to take your temperature first. If that's okay?"

Rafael nodded. "Go for it."

"I need you to sit up," George said apologetically.

Rafael frowned, but worked at it, slowly pushing himself to a sitting position and closing his eyes until the dizziness went away. He coughed and then leaned back against the chair, blinking up at George. George gave him a soft, sympathetic look, but did nothing more, not wanting to make any more obvert gestures in front of their team, especially as Olivia was the only one who knew they were together. Or, rather, had been before now, since this had to have made it obvious to Nick.

George removed the packaging from the new thermometer and handed it to Rafael. Rafael slid it into his mouth and under his tongue, closing his lips around it. Meanwhile, George grabbed his arm and set his thumb on his wrist, taking his pulse. For some reason, it annoyed Rafael; he realized after a few seconds that this felt excessive. He was sick, but not _that_ sick. So he pulled his arm away and set it in his lap.

"Barba, be nice to your boyfriend," Olivia scolded, but her tone was playful.

"Yeah, Barba, he rushed over to help you. _I_ tried to persuade him to let you stay here all night, but he decided to try and help for some reason," Nick added, smirking. "Looks like I had the right idea."

It figured, Rafael thought, that they would be having fun with this. He tried to glare at them, but he was too exhausted to put any ferocity into it. Between the thermometer, his flushed face, and his obvious exhaustion, he wound up looking absolutely pitiful instead.

Taking pity on him, George said, "Okay, fine, I'll just take your temperature. You just had to ask."

Raising his eyebrows, Rafael pointed at the thermometer.

"Oh, come on, you could have taken it out for a few seconds. It wouldn't have altered the reading."

Rafael hmphed and silently folded his arms around his chest. He waited impatiently for the thermometer to beep. Once it did, he pulled it out and told George, with a slight rasp, "103.7."

"That's high, but not enough to bring you to the hospital. I'll drive you home and make you an appointment for first thing in the morning- how's that sound?" George asked him softly.

"Not as good as staying here," Rafael muttered, closing his eyes.

"Well, that's not an option," George told him, standing up. "Come on."

Rafael opened his eyes and sighed, feeling humiliated already, but made himself tell the truth. "Honestly, medico, I don't think I can."

"That bad?" George asked softly, looking at him with renewed worry.

Rafael gazed down into his lap, too uncomfortable to see George's expression. "I'm sore. Not just my muscles- my joints hurt too. Even my shins are killing me."

"How about you take some Tylenol now, and Nick helps you to the car? And then by the time we get home, it'll hopefully have started to work?" George suggested.

Rafael blew out a slow breath that made him cough. When he regained his breath, he said, "I guess, yeah."

Olivia and Nick had been unobtrusive since George had come into the room, and they didn't stop now; Nick left to grab a cup of water for Rafael to drink with the Tylenol pills, while Olivia sat in one of the chairs at the table, facing the window.

Taking advantage of their privacy, George leaned forward to whisper in Rafael's ear. "I know you feel like hell, but you'll be in bed soon. Just hang in there a while."

Rafael decided he still did not like George being worried about him. He didn't like the man being worried at all, and he didn't like anyone worrying about him. It was how he was.

But the worry wouldn't be going away until this infection did, so Rafael had no choice but to deal with it. He touched George's arm and nodded. George looked to Olivia's turned back and the empty doorway, then gently massaged Rafael's temples.

"Shouldn't do that if you don't want me to sleep here," Rafael muttered lazily.

Laughing softly, George stood upright. "No, I guess I shouldn't." He frowned at Rafael again.

"I'll be okay," Rafael assured him, looking up. "I just need some sleep."

"Okay. We'll leave in a minute," George promised. As if on cue, Nick returned with a cup of water and gave it to Rafael. George opened the Tylenol and set two pills in Rafael's hand.

After he swallowed the pills and some water, Rafael grimaced and said, "Let's get this over with."

Olivia and Nick pulled Rafael to his feet, then Olivia backed away, leaving Nick to help him walk. He let Nick take a fair amount of his weight, but not so much as to alarm him. Every step exacerbated the ache in his legs, and by the time he was at the elevator, they were practically begging him to sit back down. After twice or triple the amount of time it would have taken Rafael otherwise, they made it to the parking lot, and George set Rafael's briefcase and his own medical bag in the trunk while Nick and Olivia helped him in to the front.

"Thanks," he said softly as they began to walk away.

"No problem. Feel better, Barba," Olivia told him.

"And you'd better not come back till you do," Nick added.

Rafael chuckled. "Even if I wanted to, no way is he-" he pointed his thumb backwards- "letting me go anywhere but the doctor."

George walked over to the driver's seat and opened his door. "Thanks for calling me. And I'll be sure to look at that case file later," he said to Nick and Olivia.

After another minute or two, they said goodbye and George sat down, closing his door. "I'll turn the heat on for you, how's that sound?" George asked, setting a hand on Rafael's thigh and massaging gently.

"Good," Rafael said. He coughed and then tilted his head back. "Wake me up when we're a few minutes away."

"Alright," George said, squeezing gently and then grasping the steering wheel.

An hour later, they were walking inside Rafael's apartment, Rafael leaning groggily against George. George eased him onto the bed and gently started unbuttoning his overcoat and dress coat, removing his suspenders, and unbuttoning his dress shirt, leaving him in just the soft t-shirt. He removed Rafael's shoes, socks, and pants as well, leaving him comfortable enough to fall asleep quickly.

Before he nodded off, George softly said, "I'll wake you up in a few hours for dinner, if you're hungry. I'll be here if you need me."

Rafael reached out and gave George a lazy, one-armed hug. "Sounds good, medicito. Thank you."

"Don't thank me, Rafael," George murmured, leaning down and kissing his forehead. "You'd do the same for me."

Rafael sighed at the feeling, the contrast of George's cool lips against his hot skin. He moved to kiss George's lips, then realized that wouldn't be a good idea, so decided on his cheek instead. "I would," he agreed, then laughed softly. "Probably _will_ in a week or two. But I'll probably just toss you a thermometer and leave the doctoring at that." He coughed again and let his eyes drift closed.

"Sleep well, Rafael," George said softly, stroking Rafael's hair until he did so. "Feel better."

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A/N: Medico is Spanish for doctor; medicito would be a diminutive of that, literally "little doctor". I thought it would be a cute but IC pet name for Rafael to call George.


End file.
